


Safe

by orphan_account



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Coming Out, Friendship, Gen, Trans Character, Trans Female Character, Trans Girl Pidge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-28
Updated: 2016-06-28
Packaged: 2018-07-18 19:06:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7326757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pidge had been wondering for a while now if she should clarify what she'd said. That the words "I'm a girl" had held  so much more in them for her than what they may have heard.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Safe

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by [this post](http://shiroshusband.tumblr.com/post/146586690400/pidge-gets-nervous-about-the-guys-misunderstanding) and is specially dedicated to [shiroshusband](http://shiroshusband.tumblr.com/) and [trans-girl-pidge](http://trans-girl-pidge.tumblr.com/)! I hope you like it!

Pidge didn't know how to handle people very well.

Sometimes she wishes she did. Honestly, it would make things a lot easier. But she'd spent far more than one too many nights holed up in her room tinkering with her tech instead of going out to interact with others. She never minded it much. She wasn't really one for extended social interaction. It wasn't something she'd ever felt bad about. She still didn't feel bad about it. But it _could_ be bothersome. Especially when she needed to do important things that required practice and confidence. Like talking.

"Pidge? You okay?" Shiro asked her with a hint of concern. She'd been picking at her space goo, pushing it around slowly with her spork as she stared absentmindedly into its green, gunky depths, trying to put together what to say before she said it. Otherwise she'd get nervous and ramble and stray away from the point. She may not even get to the point if that happened. She didn't want that. This was important to her.  _Really_ important. She didn't want the others to get confused or...or not understand...

"Yeah!" she said, quirking a nervous smile. "I'm good. Just, uh, not super hungry I guess."

It was a half-lie at best. She really didn't have much of an appetite, but it was mainly due to nerves. Thankfully Shiro let it go - though not after raising a skeptical eyebrow at her - and went back to his own meal.

After a few more buzzing minutes of throwing words and scenarios back and forth inside her head, she decided enough was enough. She'd been debating what to tell them for days now. She'd asked herself whether to tell them at all. If it was worth it or not. She'd opened and closed her mouth more times than she could count in the past few days. She kept fighting with herself. Tell them. _Don't._ Tell them! _The time has passed._ Tell. Them.  _But I'm scared._

"I...have something to tell all of you," she blurted out, looking up from her food. "Something you all should know about me."

Everyone stopped eating, some with food in their mouths still, others half raised to their mouths, all with varying expressions ranging from curious, to worried, to...Lance. Oh, Lance.

"Everything alright?"

Again, it was Shiro who first inquired about her well-being. She was grateful, but didn't really know how to respond.

"Yes?" she said. It came out as more of a question than a statement. "It's just..."

All the planning she'd done in her head flew out the window.

"Hey, it's okay, you can tell us anything. You know that," Hunk said from her left, his eyes kind and cheeks squished up from his gentle smile.

Oh, she wanted to believe him. To trust all of them with this. In her heart she did. Heck, she trusted them all with her life. But her mind whispered _'Just how many times have you heard those words before?'_

She took a deep breath.

"A few days ago, when I told all of you I'm a girl...that's true, but I feel like I wasn't, uh, specific enough with you all."

At this point everyone had forgotten about their food. Shiro was looking at her with what she thought was a somewhat knowing expression, but she couldn't be sure. Lance and Keith just looked confused. Allura and Coran also looked a bit puzzled, but patient. Hunk was waiting for her to continue, a composed but slightly worried look on his face. So far so good?

"I'm a girl, but for a long time...I was taught that I wasn't. That I couldn't be," she looked down at her hands, fiddling with her fingers instead of looking at the other's faces. "Not by any specific person just by...people. Society. And I was taught this because of the type of girl that I am."

She looked up again, scared of what she may see, but needing to know all the same.

She saw a bit of confusion. A lot of soft eyes and small smiles. But none of the things her darkest thoughts had been afraid. Disgust. Anger. Nonacceptance. She felt a surge of confidence. She could do this.

"W-what I mean to say is I'm...I'm..."

At least, she thought she could. But for all she thought, the last word still wouldn't leave her lips. They weren't even doing anything to her, but she was still scared. What if she was wrong, and they were all judging her? What if they thought of her differently because of it? She didn't like to think that way, but the thoughts were there, uninvited, all the same.

And that's when Hunk placed a hand on her shoulder and said, "Pidge, it's okay. If you're not ready to say it, you don't have to. But we get it. All of us here? We're your family. And we want you to feel okay being you."

"I couldn't have said it any better myself, Hunk," Shiro spoke up from across the table, a smile on his face.

Then, of all people, Lance spoke up. Given his initial reaction a few days ago, she had to admit she wasn't expecting it. And she definitely wasn't expecting how much his words would reassure her.

"I guess, occasionally, sometimes, on my worst days, I may be the tiniest bit dense..." he mumbled, and she had a feeling he was talking about the very reaction she'd been thinking about a few days ago, "But I think I get it. My cousin, Zelia, she said something very similar to us once. Yes, it changed things, but only because I knew her better afterwards. If anything, we were closer than before. Like Hunk said, we're family. However much it means to you, it means to us. So, this? This is something more we know about you. Something to bring us all closer. Y'know?"

"...Wow, Lance, that actually wasn't stupid at all. Well said," Keith said, sounding genuinely impressed.

"I hate how infuriating that is, whether you're sincere or not."

Keith just gave him a puzzled look and Lance slammed his head on the table.

"I've dealt with similar people and situations as I traveled with my father to other planets," Allura spoke up, "Everyone used different words for it. And sometimes the concepts were quite different. But when all is said and done, you are who you are, and you should never be made to feel unaccepted for that. We love you, Pidge, and want you to be alright."

"Yeah," Hunk chimed in again, "We just want you happy and safe."

Safe.

That's when she realized that even though she was who knows where in the Universe, battling enemies, far from home, never knowing what may happen, that right now, right here, with these people, that's what she felt. Safe.

"Thank you," she said, hearing her own voice crack as the only warning before her eyes started to sting. "Thank you all  _so much._ "

Hunk reached over and pulled her into one of his teddy bear hugs, lifting her out of her seat.

"No need to thank us! It's just how it's supposed to be, right, Pidge? Is Pidge still alright to call you?"

"Mhm" she sniffled, managing a laugh. She felt her worries flow out of her along with it.

"Now, young lady," Shiro said after Hunk set her back down, " _Eat._ You'll need your strength for training in the morning. Besides, hasn't anyone ever told you it's rude to play with your space goo?"

His mouth quirked up at the edges, as if he'd told a clever joke but didn't want to laugh before the others got it.

"Yes,  _dad_ ," she said teasingly, waiting for the storm to hit.

Sure enough, there was a moment of silence, and then everyone lost it.

"Dios mio, it's true! Shiro is totally the dad here!" Lance blurted, clutching his sides with tears in his eyes.

"Can't....! Breathe!!" Hunk wheezed as he hunched over the table, laughing so hard he looked like he was about to fall out of his seat.

As she looked at all of them easing so fluidly back into their old routines - everyone feeling comfortable and at peace even with the danger they knew was ahead of them - she couldn't stop the cheek splitting smile from spreading across her face even if she wanted to. Which she didn't.

Safe.

Yeah, that was definitely the right word.

**Author's Note:**

> I was going to incorporate my own headcanon of Lance being a trans guy, but I didn't want to detract from this fic's focus being about Pidge. I'll probably include it in another fic, but I wanted this one to really highlight Pidge specifically. (For the trans girl Pidge headcanon, personally, I think that Lance was so shocked when she first came out because he was thinking she was a trans _boy_ and was horrified that he'd been wrong and had been misgendering her thinking he wasn't). 
> 
> Anyways, sorry for rambling. Thank you for reading! If you can, please leave Kudos, a comment, or maybe even check out my Voltron blog at [lionbots](http://lionbots.tumblr.com/)!!!
> 
> EDIT: Shiroshusband on Tumblr has written a very cute follow up ficlet to this fic. Check it out [here!](http://lionbots.tumblr.com/post/147012770988/fiveminilionbots-shiroshusband-a-small)


End file.
